Glastonbury 2023: Blossoms and Rick Astley to cover The Smiths
Glastonbury organiser Emily Eavis has confirmed Blossoms and Rick Astley will be performing a secret set covering The Smiths at the festival.
During an appearance on BBC Radio 2, Eavis was quizzed by host Zoe Ball about possible secret sets across the festival. Ball stated: “The Pretenders, they are playing, that has been confirmed for Day 1. I’ve heard something about Blossoms and Rick Astley maybe doing their Smiths set?”
Replying to the presenter, Eavis asked: “Is that confirmed?” before Ball informed her, “No! It’s not confirmed!” but the cat was already out of the bag and the Glastonbury booker conceded, “Too late, oh dear. Is this live?”
News of the set had already been uncovered by the Twitter account Secret Glasto, who claimed the unlikely pairing would be performing on June 23rd between Courteeners and Warpaint in the Woodsies Stage. However, they later rectified this and said it would instead take place on June 24th at 6:00pm.
Blossoms first teamed up with Astley in 2021 when they unveiled him as a special guest during a performance at O2 Kentish Town Forum in London. The Stockport band and Astley performed ‘Panic’ and ‘This Charming Man’.
The duo followed up this collaboration by playing headline shows covering The Smiths in Manchester and London. Additionally, Rick Astley confirmed The Smiths to Blossoms, stating, “The Smiths were everything. They just did something that was completely different, and it turned me on in a major way.”
He added: “And what is amazing is that Blossoms do exactly the same and they weren’t even born. That just goes to show The Smiths could have passed on but their music would still be here. Blossoms are great. They’re a really, really, really good live band.”
Watch Blossoms and Astley cover ‘This Charming Man’ below.
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